Animal Welfare is a Public
Concern

Treating animals in a humane manner is the right thing to do.

The
public is becoming increasingly concerned about how animals are treated.
The treatment of downed, crippled animals has been an issue shown on
national television in the U.S. and animal transport is a major issue in
England.

People unfamiliar with slaughter often ask, "Do animals know they
are going to die" and "Are they afraid of blood."

Anil and McKinsey (1995)
report that pigs watching stunning and slaughter of another pig had little
or no change in heart rate, cortisol or B Beta-endorphin levels.

Observations
made by the author indicate that the small distractions such as shadows,
high pitched noise, and hissing air are more
likely to result in excitement or balking than seeing blood or watching
another animal being stunned. Cattle will voluntarily walk into a
restraint device that is covered with blood (Grandin, 1994a).

Shadows that fall across alleys, or any place where livestock
walk will cause balking.

The author
has also observed that it appears that blood from relatively calm cattle
has little effect, but if the animals become severely agitated for 10 or
15 minutes, possibly a fear pheromone is secreted. Other cattle will
start balking and refuse to walk near the place where the previous animal was
stressed.

Research with rats and pigs indicates that there may be fear
pheromones in blood and urine. Urine from a stressed gilt caused other
pigs to avoid a feed dispenser and urine from an unstressed animal had no
effect (Vieville-Thomas and Signoret, 1992).

References :

Animal Welfare

Grandin, T. 1994

Farm Animal Welfare During Handling, Transport and
SlaughterJournal of the American Veterinary Association
204:372-377